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Yeshivat Hadar Final Week, Day 2
So. Tisha B'Av. The saddest day on the Jewish calendar, and a full-day fast. We're commemorating the destruction of the two Temples, and lots of other sad stuff. Sad sad sad. Everyone's very sad. You're not supposed to greet friends. Just be sad ( Read more... ) -
Yeshivat Hadar final week, day 1
Reentry from Havurah Institute land. And what a reentry! For the first time in my 10 Institutes, I went back the next day to my (albeit temporary) life of Jewish learning in community. So it wasn't as big of an adjustment as some years. It was made better by how happy many folks were to see me! It was nice to be back ( Read more... ) -
Yeshivat Hadar Week 7
...I have no idea. I'm taking a week off of yeshiva to attend the National Havurah Committee Summer Institute 2011. A different kind of all-day Jewish learning community! I'll be back in New York next week for the last week of yeshiva, but I won't be blogging this week. (Or at least not every day and not about Yeshivat Hadar ( Read more... ) -
August of Awesomeness, version 10
In lieu of my regular yeshiva post today, since my mind is really focused on next week rather than what I'm learning now, I think it's time for an annual tradition on this here blog: A rundown of my ridiculous August.
Let's kick it off.
Friday, July 28th: Picking up my car in New Jersey as its summer vacation comes to an end
Sunday, July 31st: In ( Read more... ) -
Yeshivat Hadar Week 6 Day 3
Today at the nursing home, I watched some of the Mets game (rerun) with a resident. While in his room, I heard his roommate complain about his TV remote not working, and the appropriate people who work there not being able to help. So when he was in the bathroom, I fixed it. (Turned the batteries around so they worked, looked up the manual ( Read more... ) -
Yeshivat Hadar Week 6 Day 2
Two things of note happened today ( Read more... ) -
Yeshivat Hadar Week 5 Day 4
Not much to say tonight, since I've been behind on sleep all week, and I still have to pack up tonight to spend the weekend in Philly ( Read more... ) -
Yeshivat Hadar Week 5 Day 3
So leading services is a kind of daunting thing to do. It's essentially a performance. You stand up there, in front of or in the midst of everyone, and sing, chant, and perform the choreography of the service you're leading. Everyone else is following and paying attention to you. The only mitigating factor is that the point isn't to perform. ( Read more... ) -
Yeshivat Hadar Week 5 Day 2
Most anyone who has met a Jew knows that Yom Kippur is a Jewish fast day. Less known is that there are 5 other fast days: Tisha b'Av, and 4 "minor" fast days. On Yom Kippur and Tisha b'av, one who is fasting refrains from all food and drink for 25 hours, from sunset one day to nightfall the next. On the minor fast days, you only refrain from ( Read more... ) -
Yeshivat Hadar Week 5 Day 1
A few weeks before yeshiva started this summer, I had a diagnostic/placement test over the phone with one of the faculty members. I was emailed a scanned page from the talmud, and I spent about 15 minutes reading from it and translating (with help, where needed). Even though the part I read was just Hebrew, with no Aramaic, I struggled a lot. ( Read more... )